Sunday, April 15, 2012

How To "Do" Peace

Imagine that you are watching
a beauty pageant.After the beauty
portion, the swimsuit and evening gown modeling competition, and talent
competitions, five finalists are selected.And then probably the most nervewracking part of the evening:The Interview Question.

“If you are crowned Miss
Beautiful of the Universe, what would you like to work toward during your
reign?”

A common answer you may hear
would be “World Peace.”

Peace.In over 3,500 years of recorded history of
the world there have been only about 300 years where there has not been a
military conflict somewhere on this planet. Peace is gained when one side, or both sides,
surrender something and an agreement or treaty is drawn up.But even with peace treaties we still don’t
get it right – over the course of history more than 8,000 treaties of peace,
meant to last forever, have been broken. The average time they remained in force? Two years.

Peace is not simply the
absence of conflict.We all have
conflict in our lives – it is part of the human experience. Peace, generally speaking, is “a state of
quiet tranquility, or freedom from disturbance or agitation.”We so often want to try to find peace through
our circumstances, so we keep asking God to change them. We think that “If this were different – my finances, my
health, my parent’s health, my relationship with my spouse, my kids, my boss,
my neighbors, or whatever “this” is –
then my life would be much more at peace.”But you know what?Our
circumstances are always changing.Just
when one thing finally starts to go right, Bam!Something else rises up to take a turn at being the “this” that we want to change.

It’s pretty evident that
peace is not something that “just happens.” Our scripture reading this morning gives us a
blueprint of some things we can “do” that will bring us peace.

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Did you get that?God wants us to make our requests known to
Him!He wants us to tell him want we
want.But, think about it - if God is
omniscient, if He knows everything about us and about our lives, past, present
and future, why then do we have to tell Him what we want?Let me give an example.

It’s tax season.Many people don’t like to file their tax
returns, but for most of us it is something that needs to be done every year.Part of the tax return, even if you are
single and filing the EZ form, is claiming a deduction.Everyone gets a “standard deduction.”If you have children, you can claim a
deduction for each child.If you own a
home, or a business, or for many other circumstances, you can claim more
deductions. The IRS knows this, and is
willing to give you these deductions, as long as they are according to the
law.But they won’t automatically grant
them.The IRS won’t call you up or send
you a letter reminding you that you have two children instead of one, or that
you paid interest on your mortgage.You
have to Ask for the deductions when you file your tax return.

God knows we have
requests.He expects that of us.And he wants to grant those requests to us
according to His will.But He wants us
to ask Him, by prayer and petition.We
all know that prayer is our dialog with God – confessing our sins to God,
thanking Him, making requests, listening for His answer.Petition, also called “supplication,” is a
part of prayer.Supplication is where we
make a sincere fervent plea, asking God for what we desire for Him to do.

Supplications are made in our
humility, where we recognize and acknowledge our place before the all-powerful,
all-knowing, all-loving God of the universe and admitting that we can’t fix our
faults and foibles on our own.It is
giving our hopes and hurts, our wants and worries / to the God who created us,
the same God who knows past, present and future, the same God who has a plan
for our lives and can work all things for good for those who love him and are
called according to His purpose.Supplication
is our surrender to the King of kings, agreeing once again to allow His will to
be done in and through our lives, on earth as it is in heaven.

God wants us to bring our
requests to him, fervently and with humility.He also wants to ask in thanksgiving.We all know that thanksgiving is more than what we do around the table
the fourth Thursday of November every year.It’s more than “Thank you, God, for family, health, food, friends,
etc.”Thanksgiving is the expression of
gratitude. Gratitude is that feeling we
have whenever we experience a kindness.

Giving thanks is just as
important as our supplications.That is
why our boxes we pass around with the attendance books have pink Prayer
Requests for our supplications, and yellow Praise Reports for our
thanksgivings.To give an example of how
important giving thanks is, let me share this story:

One year a pastor was giving
his Report to the congregation, remembering the people who had been called home
by the Lord during the previous year.This happened to be during a time when many young men were enlisting in
the Navy and going off to war.In his
report the pastor included “Nine persons lost at sea.”When the congregation reacted with shock and
amazement, the pastor replied, “Well, eleven persons requested prayers for
those going to sea, and only two asked me to give thanks for a safe
return.So I assumed the remaining nine
were lost at sea.”

Every day we have things that
don’t go our way.Some of it is little,
some can be pretty significant.And there
are some days where we might feel we haven’t experienced a single kindness at
all, which makes it difficult to give thanks to God for anything.What then?

Let’s continue in Scripture
where we left off:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever
is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:9)

There are many things in our
lives that fit one or more of those descriptions.A baby’s smile; your child or grandchild’s laughter,
the beauty of nature, the way your dog greets you when you come home.But only one person fits all of that criteria
perfectly, all of the time:Jesus
Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.The
same Jesus who left the splendor of heaven to be born in a smelly stable.The same Jesus who gave sight to blind men,
and commanded the lame to walk.The same
Jesus who turned gallons of water into wine, and who walked upon the sea.He alone is true, noble, right, and pure.He is lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy
of all our praise.He rose from the dead
and left the grave empty, but he has never left his throne!

Let me share one more story,
and I will close.

In the late 1800s the people
of Argentina and Chile were in conflict over the boundary between the two
nations.Tensions rose because of the
mistrust between the two countries. In 1900, when on the verge of war, King
Edward VII of Great Britain was called in to mediate.A diplomatic breakthrough was reached, and on
May 28, 1903 the two governments signed a treaty ending the conflict.

During the celebration that
followed, Angela Oliveira Cezar de Costa, a well-connected member of society
who had done much to bring about that peace, commissioned a 26-foot high bronze
statue of Jesus Christ to be placed at
the summit of Uspallata Pass in the Andes Mountains.This was no easy task – the Uspallata Pass is
at the 12,500 ft elevation, has year round snow, and the statue had to be
transported in pieces by train and by mule.Once everything got to the summit the statue had to be pieced together
and mounted on its 18 ft granite base that also had to be transported up the
mountain.

At the dedication ceremony on
March 13, 1904 - during their summer - the statue was presented to the world as
a sign of the victory of good will.On
its base there is a plaque inscribed in Spanish that reads “Sooner shall these
mountain crags crumble to dust than Chile and Argentina shall break this peace
which at the feet of Christ the Redeemer they have sworn to maintain."More than 100 years later the treaty is still
in force, and the monument stands today as a reminder that only Christ can
bring real peace to the world.

Around 700 B.C., the prophet
Isaiah foretold the birth of a special child.This child would be known as Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.We
know that Isaiah was talking about Jesus.The night before Jesus was to give his life on the cross so that we may
have eternal life, he told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid.”

Peace comes from surrender.The peace of God that surpasses understanding
comes when we surrender our lives to Christ, the Prince of Peace.

We will soon be singing the hymn “I Surrender All.” Too
frequently we sing hymns to the Lord without thinking about the words.Right now I want you to close your eyes, and
as I read the words, reflect on what it means to surrender all to Jesus.

I Surrender All

All to Jesus, I surrender;

All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,

In His
presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

In your bulletin there is a piece of paper with the
heading “I Surrender.”As we close out
our service, I invite you to write down a word or a phrase, or more than one, representing
a burden, or burdens, you wish to surrender to the Lord, and praise Him that He
wants us to release them.It may be
worry about something outside of your control.Or something you need to change about yourself but can’t do on your
own.Or you may want to surrender your
heart to Jesus.Whatever it may be, to
symbolize a total surrender, I invite you to drop that paper with your burdens written
on it into the shredder.